


A Long Planned Dinner

by Ecarden



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen, Murder and Consequences, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29669142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecarden/pseuds/Ecarden
Summary: Suyin hosts a foreign merchant. It does not go as planned. Old actions wait to ambush you with all the viciousness of a badger-wolf.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	A Long Planned Dinner

“This is a bad idea,” Kuvira said.

“Zai is a pain, but his contacts will be useful.”

“Letting foreign troops into Zaofu is a mistake.”

“There’s less than a dozen of them. They’re his personal guard. We have them outnumbered and can easily defeat them if we have to.”

Kuvira’s glare was a flat thing, but Suyin waved it off.

“It’s just one night, then he gets back in his fancy blimp and we’re done.”

The dinner began reasonably well, though Zai was even more paranoid than she’d heard. His food taster tasted every dish that came out of the kitchen. But the talks went reasonably well. Zai was exactly what she’d expected, an old Fire Nation man who listened more than he spoke and chose his words with extraordinary care. He wore a small blade at his belt, but it was clearly more symbol than weapon. A reminder of when his family had been warriors, not merchants.

But as the meal wore on, the excellent food and her family’s charm clearly warmed the man. Indeed, by the end of the meal, he asked the chef to come out so he could be congratulated. As the man was summoned, he had one of his own guards bring out a silk wrapped square. He opened it, revealing a dark square, which he introduced as chocolate, a rare desert from far away, acquired at great expense and proof of his many trade contacts, which he offered as his contribution to so excellent a meal.

The square went around and each of the family broke off a piece, tasting it delicately at first, then scarfing it down and hoping for more. Even the youngest maintained their composure however, as the much-diminished square made it back to Zai.

He smiled and rose from his chair as he took it and in an instant the guards in the room were down. Kuvira, sitting with the family, tried to move. Her body would not respond. She tried to shout, but all she could manage was a whisper that didn’t even contain any words. Zai’s guards were few, but they outnumbered the Zaofu troops in the room. The door at the end of the hall swung open and the Chef stepped in. He raised his heavily tattooed arms to defend himself, but in an instant he was gagged and pinioned between two of Zai’s troops.

Suyin managed to whisper a word. “What?”

Zai bent down. “Beg pardon?”

“Why?”

“Ah. That is a simple matter. But I think your first question was what. That is not a simple question. I mean, there was obviously poison. Not just in the chocolate, that wouldn’t work like that. No, my food taster added it to every dish, then a catalyst in the chocolate. The poison was ingested over hours and will take longer to leave your system. You are quite paralyzed for some time. As for why I am not Zai. I have stolen his blimp and some clothes. But I am not him. No, I am a much lesser merchant, Lee of the Drunken Flame Merchant Company.” He made that announcement as if she should recognize his name.

She stared at him blankly.

“I suppose I am unsurprised. I am quite certain my letters reached you, but I’m sure you receive much correspondence in this beautiful city,” he swept aside the curtain to reveal a balcony overlooking the city below, then turned back to her.

“Three times I wrote you, asking for this man,” he waved a hand, “to be turned over to face justice for his crimes. The first time I got back a polite refusal. The second time, a less polite refusal. The third time, no response at all.”

“What crime?” Suyin managed, clearly trying to buy time and keep her eyes off her paralyzed children.

“He was a pirate for many years. Does it matter which of his victims was my son, my daughter, my friend? Does it matter which of the ships he sank or stole were mine? Do not play the innocent with me, Suyin. You knew what he was and chose to forgive him. Though his victims were none of yours, you chose to forgive him.”

Lee turned his back on her and walked over to their chef, a beloved figure in Zaofu, who had fed them all. Who had bounced her children on his knee and who she trusted to feed her family. “Your former companions are dead. It has been the work of many years, but you are the last.”

The chef tried to speak, but the gag was in the way.

“I’m going to let you speak. If you yell for help, I’ll start killing hostages.” Lee waved a hand to one of the guards and the gag came off.

“I remember a Lee of the Drunken Flame company. He was brave. Fought well.”

“There was nothing on the ship worth dying for,” Lee shrugged. “But young things, everything is melodrama.”

That was hypocritical enough that the chef’s eyes actually flickered to Suyin, but there was nothing she could do.

"He was your son?"

"Only son. My family line is ended. You should be proud. Many tried in the old days, when we were warriors. You succeeded."

“I didn't mean to--that wasn't what--I remember them all. I regret my actions. That is why I am here. To try to do something good.”

“That is one interpretation. Another is that, having made so many enemies, you found a place that would hide you from the consequences of your actions. Which is true only you know. But I know which I believe.”

“Would your son want you to throw away your life, your honor, like this?”

“Don’t care about honor. My family lost that when our lords went insane and we stayed loyal. But you might be right about the first one. Tell you what,” and in a single smooth motion he drew the blade off his belt and across the cook’s throat in a single motion. “You run along and ask him. I’ll wait here for the answer.”

Blood sprayed everywhere. The guards holding the soon-to-be corpse didn’t flinch, but Lee was bathed in blood. He then did indeed proceed to wait for a moment. He did not receive any message. He turned back. His prisoners could not change their facial expression, but he still felt he could see fear, fury and hatred in them. Maybe even a little guilt from those who had not considered what 'pirate' meant.

“Thank you for your service, ladies and gentlemen. The second half of your payment is waiting for you. Give my agent the codeword ‘resurrection,’ and you will receive your payment.

They looked at one another, at the corpse, at the paralyzed nobles. “We could—” one began.

“I don’t care about survival and would have no hesitation in screaming for help if you double-crossed me,” Lee interjected, carefully keeping far enough away from the mercenaries to make it impossible to take him in one strike.

After a moment they left. Less than a minute later the blimp began its trip away from Zaofu. Lee pulled out his watch and checked the time. Then he slowly pulled each of their chairs out onto the balcony and set them facing the city. The blimp passed over their heads as it began to travel.

“What now?” Suyin managed.

“I’m not going to kill your children, if that’s what your worried about. I considered it, as I considered many things as I watched you shield that man from me. I made a few attempts on Zaofu, but you truly have built something solid here. I couldn’t make a dent.”

“Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome. I studied you somewhat. For all your…iconoclasm, you have a full measure of the Beifong pride. No one insults you. No one betrays you. No one threatens your family. Or you handle it. Personally. Brutally. With none of the forgiveness you show those who have harmed other, non-Beifong, people. I’m sure you memorized the faces of those mercenaries and are already planning your vengeance. It would be a thing to behold I’m sure. You and your army and fortune up against ten fearsome mercenary monsters.”

He glanced at his watch again. “It’s so hard to time these things correctly. That would have been the moment when—”

The blimp exploded in the distance.

“There it is. All dead. No showy vengeance to wreak. No one to punish for your children’s nightmares. No way to assuage your pride. No way to reclaim your honor.”

Kuvira could only barely see Suyin out of her peripheral vision, but she could hear the fury, even in the whispered words.

“Still you.”

That was just stupid. The guards inside were still restrained and they sat, paralyzed on the balcony. He could cut all their throats as easily as he had the chef’s.

“No. There is not,” he drew the blade. “You know, the fact that my final act would so please my father is a little hilarious. He went to his death so disappointed that I became a filthy merchant rather than an honorable warrior.” He reversed the blade and set it against his belly. “Oh, and just so you know, when I go over the rail, that’s on purpose. I really want as many people as possible to see you like this. Helpless. Unable to act against the person who has so harmed your family. Exactly how you made me feel as you sheltered that murderer.”

Before Suyin could muster the energy to force out more words, he drove the blade deep into his gut, dragged it across with a pained grunt and tumbled backwards over the railing. The fall alone would have killed him. Screams went up from the square below, the same screams that his drugs had prevented above. And Lee’s poisonous legacy spread, far more quickly than the blood seeping from his broken body onto the cobblestones below.

**Author's Note:**

> This one came out a bit darker than I intended. Oops.
> 
> I actually am a big believer in the importance of forgiveness for a society. But you can only forgive acts against yourself. Forgiving acts against another is not forgiveness. It may be a pardon. It may be a kindness. But it is not forgiveness, for that is not yours to give on behalf of another.
> 
> Pardon and kindness are crucial too, but so is justice. It's a hard balance to strike.
> 
> Comments always welcome.


End file.
